Blackouts could hit Britain by 2015, says National Grid chief

Blackouts could become a regular occurrence unless the Government ensures more power stations are built, the head of National Grid has said.

By Jon Swaine

8:48AM GMT 22 Dec 2008

Steve Holliday, the company's chief executive, said that Britain faces a severe shortage in power generation due to crumbling coal and nuclear plants being taken out of service.

He said that unless the Government intervenes to ensure £100 billion investment in new stations, there will not be enough generation to meet demand by 2015, meaning power outages would result.

"We are OK for a period of time ... but when you go out to the medium term you can begin to see there is not enough collective generation being built in the UK," Mr Holliday told The Times. "We will need to watch that very carefully over the next 18 months to ensure that window gets shut."

He added that the Government must offer better incentives for companies to build stations. "What is happening that people are not wanting to build enough power stations?" he said. "The Government has an obligation to make sure that the markets are delivering. You can't afford for it to fail."

While Mr Holliday believes Government needs to persuade them to build more plants, power companies face opposition to their intention to expand in Britain.

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Climate activists have launched protests against plans to build new coal-fired power stations.

In August 1,000 protesters targetted the coal- and oil-fired Kingsnorth power station in Kent to protest at plans by the German-based company E.On to demolish the building and construct Britain's first new coal power station for 34 years.

Last week a lone activist broke in and crashed a giant turbine at Kingsnorth, causing all power from the station to be lost for four hours.

Another barrier to the expansion of traditional power production is the fact that Britain has committed itself to ambitious European Union targets to have 20 per cent of all energy generated from renewable sources - such as wind and solar power - by 2020.

Ofgem, the energy industry watchdog, said last week it would consider new incentives for the development of renewable energy schemes, including offering better returns for companies that build grid connections serving remote areas and anticipating future rises in demand.

Later on Monday, the European Commission is expected to report on whether the French company EDF should be allowed to buy up Britain's nuclear industry for £12.4 billion.

The company intends to take over British Energy and use its resources as a launchpad from which to build a new generation of nuclear plants in Britain.